Pirelli has urged F1 teams to give it the tools to do its job rather than complaining that its tires "are not good enough," according to REUTERS. The Italian company "was again in the line of fire" at the weekend's Korean Grand Prix, with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Red Bull's Mark Webber complaining about how quickly the tires wore out. Pirelli Motorsport Dir Paul Hembery said that there was real concern about how the tires would behave next year "when the rules change significantly and a new V6 turbocharged engine was introduced." Pirelli has done several tests, including a controversial "secret" one with Mercedes in May, with teams providing older cars, but has repeatedly complained that it needs to use more representative machinery. Hembery said, "We're running around in a 2010 car, developing tires for the 2014 car, which nobody really knows what it's going to look like. Yet every time we even ask to test with a 2011 car we come up against opposition" (REUTERS, 10/8).
CALENDAR CONCERNS: F1SA reported F1 teams on Friday "were admitting concerns with next year's unprecedentedly long 22 race calendar." Three races on the calendar "are only provisional," and existing agreements between the teams and F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone have set a cap of 20 races. Indeed, Ecclestone has said that "he thinks the calendar will be trimmed," which will please Red Bull Team Principal Chris Horner. Horner: "I think we can all recognize that 22 races is beyond the limit" (F1SA, 10/4).
